How to Create a sos report (sosreport) on Linux

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: sos 4.9 to 4.11 on AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux 9 and 10, RHEL 9 and 10, Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 13

sos report collects a server's configuration, logs and diagnostic output into one compressed archive. Support teams (Red Hat, Canonical, hardware vendors and hosting providers) often ask for it, because it answers most of their questions at once. The command was called sosreport on CentOS 7 and older releases; in sos version 4 it is sos report, and sosreport remains as a shortcut. We ran a test report with sos 4.11.2 on AlmaLinux 9.

1. Install

dnf install sos          # AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, RHEL
apt install sosreport    # Ubuntu (Debian 13 also has the package "sos")

2. Create a report

sos report

It asks for your name and a case number (press Enter to skip), then runs for a few minutes. At the end it prints the archive path, usually /var/tmp/sosreport-HOSTNAME-DATE.tar.xz, and its SHA-256 checksum. Run it as root.

Useful options:

sos report --batch                    # no questions, for scripts
sos report --case-id 01234567         # put the case number in the file name
sos report --tmp-dir /home/tmp        # write to another folder when /var/tmp is small
sos report -o networking,logs         # only some plugins
sos report --list-plugins             # which plugins exist and are enabled

3. Remove sensitive data before sending

The archive contains host names, IP addresses, user names and parts of configuration files. sos can replace them with consistent placeholders:

sos report --clean

The report then lists the mapping in a separate file that stays on your server, so you can translate the support team's findings back. Check the archive yourself before sending it anywhere.

4. Send it

Upload it through your support case, or copy it off the server with scp root@SERVER:/var/tmp/sosreport-*.tar.xz .. With a Red Hat subscription, sos report --upload can send it directly to a case.

Official documentation: sos documentation and sos on GitHub.